The result was at least half full, but leaving PNC Arena after an overtime loss is still leaving PNC Arena after a loss.

With the Hurricanes playing well of late and coming in with a six-game home winning streak and the Capitals sitting atop the Metropolitan Division standings, the game figured to be a good one. Though it was entertaining because of the volume of goals, the game was anything but well-played. Instead, the game featured a steady flow of break downs and miscues that fueled the majority of the offense for both teams.

The Hurricanes forecheck and opportunistic attack whenever the Capitals turned the puck over for an immediate scoring chance against which must have happened a dozen times were positives for the Hurricanes. But the Hurricanes lack of attention to detail and miscues defensively and sloppiness in their own right trying to advance the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive zone were both major negatives. Fortunately for the Hurricanes, the Capitals defensemen were absolutely atrocious when pressured on the forecheck and single-handedly generated an impressive volume of grade A scoring chances for the Hurricanes.

Early on the Hurricanes had the better of play in terms of puck possession but had issues advancing the puck smoothly and did not generate much offensively. Things also started positively on the score board when a Caps defenseman literally handed the puck to Victor Rask who made no mistake from point blank range. But then a couple of miscues tipped the score board in the Capitals favor. Justin Faulk and Haydn Fleury were both a step slow defending against a rush that saw a Capitals player go around Faulk in the neutral zone and feed a puck right to the front of the net for a tap in goal for an Alex Chiasson tap in goal with Fleury arriving a step or two late. The Caps struck again when Devante Smith-Pelly beat Ward off the rush after a squishy Canes defense gave him all kinds of room tee up and label the shot. Sebastian Aho was floating around with no one to defend, Trevor van Riemsdyk was too far across to close on the shot. The result was a 2-on-1 with Noah Hanifin defending two players by himself in a small space. The Hurricanes mostly controlled the possession numbers in the first period as they quite often do, but the period was not a very good one in terms of quality of play.

Midway through the second period, the Capitals struck again on a scoring play that had to make Coach Peters groan out loud. Dmitry Orlov carried the puck freely through the neutral zone without being impeded and then flipped the puck wide of the net between Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce. When none of Slavin, Pesce or Ward reacted to the carom off the boards, Orlov retrieved the puck behind Slavin and Pesce and deposited it behind a wandering Ward who failed to find the puck or the near side post. With the score 3-1, the Hurricanes needed to find a spark to climb back into the game and they did exactly that courtesy of the power play and another Victor Rask goal. A nifty backhand pass enabled Rask to step into a shot from between the circles. He finished to pull the Canes back within a single goal at 3-2 which is how the second period finished.

The third period saw another round of late holiday gift giving in the form of ‘oopses’ for scoring chances. With yet another shot from right between the circles, Elias Lindholm beat Braden Holtby after Jeff Skinner and Derek Ryan did the dirty work winning and centering the puck from the boards. Following the theme of forechecking the Caps defensemen into ‘oopses’ for scoring chances, Canes enemy Brooks Orpik scored into his own net during a crease scramble after Sebastian Aho made a strong play separating a Caps defenseman from the puck in the corner. But with the Hurricanes defending a lead in the last 10 minutes, Jaccob Slavin gave it back when he handed a previously quiet Alex Ovechkin a scoring chance when he made a bad turnover in his own end.

Some may grumble about the Hurricanes again losing in overtime, but at the end of the day, the Hurricanes basically lost the coin flip. Shortly after Sebastian Aho cleanly beat Holtby only to hit the post, Ovechkin found the puck on his stick with room to skate and he backed up Slavin with speed and then beat Ward cleanly to end it.

Recap/notes from the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals

1) Results matter

One could make strong cases for half full or half empty on Tuesday. The point against division leader and rise into the eighth and final playoff spot are both positives. But losing a third period lead at home and losing a point in the process definitely left some on the table and hurts. The fact that the schedule next features four tough road games made getting the other point even more important. I still say a productive night against an elite team is more positive than negative.

2) The POST!

In addition to scoring four times, the Hurricanes also hit four posts. Brock McGinn had one off yet another forecheck steal. Jordan Staal had one from in close. Justin Faulk had one early. And Sebastian Aho just missed winning the game in overtime with the fourth shot off the iron. For whatever number of issues there were with the Hurricanes’ game on Tuesday, one cannot fault their finishing with four goals and very nearly four more.

3) Victor Rask

Despite controlling play, I thought the Canes (and the Caps for that matter) mostly looked sluggish on Tuesday night. Rask was a notable exception. He had at least three steals either in the neutral zone or the forecheck, the two goals and a generally active night competing for the puck.

4) Brock McGinn

He was another player who seemed to have jump on a night when not everyone did. McGinn had a post after a steal on the forecheck, drew a penalty and played his usual high energy game.

5) Generally a tough night for much of the blue line

In my preview I noted the recent decline of the Hurricanes play in terms of attention to detail despite a winning run. That trend caught up with the Hurricanes on Tuesday. Faulk and Fleury were both beaten on the first Washington goal. Slavin and Pesce were slow to react on the third Washington goal. Slavin’s turnover was really costly putting the puck on Ovechkin’s stick late, and he was also the defender on Ovechkin for the overtime goal.

6) Cam Ward

Somewhat like the rest of the team, Ward’s game was a mixed bag. His basic stats of allowing five goals on only 26 shots are not impressive. He could theoretically have been better by making a few stops. But except for the Orlov goal that he was slow to react on, Ward was largely put in really tough spots on the others. The positive in his game was a strong third period that held the fort under some duress except for the pretty Ovechkin finish in alone. Again, Ward could have been better, but in no way was he the primary problem in Tuesday’s overtime loss.

7) Need to get back to sounder game

As of January 2, the Hurricanes are in a playoff spot. That is an incredibly good thing.

But my biggest takeaway from Tuesday’s game is the need for the Hurricanes to get back to a cleaner brand of hockey in terms of defensive coverage and puck management. Counting on the other team to struggle too is a recipe for inconsistency at best and a run of losing hockey at worst.

Up next is the first of four tough games on the road when the Hurricanes defend their current playoff positioning against the Penguins on Thursday night.

Go Canes!

6 Comments

raleightj
on January 3, 2018 at 12:23 am

We could have won several different ways tonight. Earlier today, I suggested a split with the Caps – this is a start to that.

That second goal was just a terrible line change. I was sitting in Section 106, Row D (4 rows from glass). Slavin is leaving the ice at the same time that two Caps are entering our D zone with the puck – on his side of the ice. Slavin is waving Hanifin over to cover the two Caps as he leaves. It wasn’t Slavin – it was whoever called that change without situational awareness.

It was effectively an even game against an excellent opponent. We did come back from 3-1 – but I think we left a point on the table there. Or maybe Ovechkin – as the elite player that he is – swept in and claimed that point, which elite players do.

PIT will be challenging – if Pens light up Ward the way the Caps did, is Darling in net against the Bruins? I think the Bruins are beatable by the team playing at its top level.

It was a fun game to watch on TV, it looked like two fast teams slugging it out. There were times that movement away from the puck wasn’t good (particularly defensively) but explosiveness abounded around the puck.

The fast pace of the game made it a little herky jerky. Each team had about 30 turnovers (canes: 22 giveaways, taken away 10 times; caps: 10 giveaways, taken away 20 times). At times all of our players looked like Ryan Murphy out there, just getting rid of the puck with no good intention planned.

*Puck Management* will be key to improving play and taking 2 points against these scoundrels next time. And a little bit of luck – we should replace the “post-seeking pucks” with a more generous brand of rubber.

As TJ referenced, Ovechkin showed why he is a league MVP caliber player. Big games are when a captain should step up.

Notably, winning a Stanley Cup means that you can win 4 of 7 games against other top teams. While we didn’t win this one, it was a coin toss, and a good sign that on this night we were in the vicinity of the 4 of 7 marker.

The outcome was something that I expected. I predicted in yesterday’s Coffee Shop the stretch of 7 games ahead (now 6) will break even with 3 OT/SO losses included and now the box is checked for the first one of them.

TSA line +/- stats of the two latest games don’t lie. Sebastian Aho has been on the ice during all 7 goals against (STL and WSH), Staal and Teuvo mainly so. Poor guys. It is mostly the D that has caused this but yeah, TSA should have done a better job defensively, too. All the team should have.

Goaltending is the major problem for the Canes and hardest to fix. It is a pity. I use Winnipeg Jets as a reference. They lead Central atm and goaltending is number 1 reason compared to last year. The same guy that was bw the pipes last year, but a young, developing one who found his play due to summer coaching. Some ppl say that hockey goaltender is the hardest spot to play of all team sports with goaltending and makes the highest impact on losing or winning than any other spot played. I tend to believe that.

It seriously worries me that we get to see this Victor Rask once in a blue moon. He clearly isn’t the fastest skater but when he gets on his horse 100% of the time he is just fine speed wise, and he has some good hands that helps transition the puck to the offense. Even through his tough stretches i’ll give him credit for his defensive play and it was even more notable last night. He is clearly capable of playing at that level and I honestly don’t care if the points come or not but he has to play like he did last night every game.

Overall despite a really heartbreaking loss all I had to say to myself was wow – that was a fun and dramatic game played both ways – Canes controlling the play for the most part but Washington showing why they have president’s trophies to show finding a way to win a game they didn’t play their best in. Although if the Canes find themselves on this end of too many more of these divisional games the playoffs will become a long shot.

As much as I love Marcus Kruger for what he does defensively, having Staal, Ryan, Wallmark and Rask as the 4 centers when Rask plays like he did last night makes for 4 lines that can score. Hopefully Wallmark is okay after his injury last night.

Agree with fifty. I like the offense with last night’s centers. Maybe Kruger can play LW with Rask and Williams.

First and last shifts displayed Aho taking game up to next level. The first minute TSA were dominating. Then in OT he beat two defenders and goalie, only stopped by post. The goal credited to Teravainen was due to Aho taking puck while discarding defender.

His shot is not yet elite but in offensive zone he has become capable of taking over.

Finally, on 8s OT winner I think it might have nicked Slavin’s stick. Have not watched a second time. On television replay puck was wobbling more than typical. I only mentioned that because the OT really was coin flip.

I attended the game and felt fortunate that we were gifted a couple of goals. Skinner was buzzing and seems close to breaking out. Our guys were going to the front of the net (good) and getting some chances but seemed to be getting boxed out often because of their smaller size (RF/BP please get us a power forward – or at least let Zykov have a shot). I’m trying to think what the reason is for 45 hits against the Pens but only 20 against the Caps (PDG & Wallmark had 9 of them). Style of play? Coaching? Motivation? I can’t figure it out. The only thing I can think of is that the Pens game was an aberration and is not sustainable.